


Like War on Your Tongue

by Cupcakemolotov



Series: come alive [27]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - All Human, Boss!Klaus, F/M, Spies, Spy Caroline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 01:34:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14345202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cupcakemolotov/pseuds/Cupcakemolotov
Summary: The body on her floor is a warning and a message, and Caroline is running out of time.





	Like War on Your Tongue

Caroline stared at the dead body in her hotel room with with a frown. She only had minutes before the sirens in the distance became a problem, but she'd take what she could get. She was fortunate, that she hadn't spent any time in the room, had habitually wiped it clean each morning. Yanking her gloves out of her pockets, she quickly searched the body, spine stiffening as she took in the tattoo inked onto the skin of his forearm.

Cursing, she pushed to her feet and set about making her exit. A drop into her neighboring balcony, a few careful adjustments to disguise, and Caroline slipped into the lobby with no one the wiser as police rushed around. Moving with the crowd, it wasn't until the cool parisian air touched her skin that she separated herself from the crowd. A few blocks on foot, she stepped into a public bathroom with no cameras and she'd shed her disguise, slipping into a different wig and outfit.

It was another half hour, before she felt safe enough to dig out the burn phone from the bottom of her bag. Biting her lip, tucked into a darkened alley, she took a slow breath. Someone had dumped one of Klaus' men into her room.

That was alarming.

Shivering, she worried her lip between her teeth and tried to think. It been two years since she'd seen Klaus, another three years since she'd spent anytime in his bed. God, she'd been so young. Not naive, and not silly, just young. And still she hadn't been able to excise him from her veins. The charming man with the terrible sense of humor had captivated her, the nearly militants dictator had shocked her. Caroline knew crime, had spent her life grifting after her parents deaths had left her on the streets. She was good at it. Slipping from one identity to the next, shedding one life for another, had become second nature, and Klaus had been an unexpected bump in her life.

Who'd have thought one of the most powerful men in Europe liked dive bars and fries? He enjoyed late night ice cream with her, while she wore only his shirt. He was a man who left ridiculously cheesy notes and sketches, who indulged her thirst for knowledge, as if her mere cravings fascinated him. As if she was something precious and _new._

When she'd discovered who and what he was, she'd thrown a vase at his head. Maybe she should have run then and there, slipped away without a trace, but Caroline had been in too deep. She didn't regret that last night spent shouting at him, and then screaming for him as Klaus bent her over a variety of surfaces. She didn't regret leaving an imprint of her lips against his collarbones in the color of her favorite lipstick as she slipped out of his apartment on silent feet.

She'd known then that he'd let her go.

It'd be a lie, to say that she hadn't thought of him often. That the shared glass of champagne at that art exhibit he wasn't supposed to have been at hadn't rekindled all sorts of tangled emotions in her chest. She'd thought he'd written her off, that he'd said hello for mere curiosity, but the look in his eyes as he brushed a kiss across her knuckles as a goodbye had told her differently.

Klaus had forgotten nothing.

Her continued freedom had been her choice, not his. She knew he had the network to track her, probably did keep an eye on her. Someone like Klaus who ran a syndicate feared throughout Europe was more than capable of tracking her down. But he hadn't.

Caroline had left that night because she was pissed that he'd all but lied to her. She'd been furious that it'd hurt when she promised herself just a fling, a chance to catch her breath after her previous con. She hadn't been looking for anything long lasting or permanent and she'd wound up far more emotionally involved than she's wanted to admit. To someone who she hadn't been prepared to handle.

It's been terrifying, to discover all of that along with the fact that Klaus was really Niklaus Mikaelson. Head of the very family she'd done her absolute best to avoid catching their attention.

Now she'd found one of his men dead in her room.

Blowing out a breath, she brushed her thumb lightly over the screen. The corpse's mark had been tattooed instead of branded, which meant he wasn't too terribly far into the organization. But the implications were worrying. She didn't know who had set her up, how much they knew, if the police had a picture of her to hunt.

But she knew who would.

Talking out the number she'd memorized years before, a number she'd never admit being tempted to call in the dark hours before dawn. She'd never admit to those times, skin damp from her exceptions, lips and tongue still trembling from cursing his name as she came. Caroline pressed her back to the cold stone of the alley, and took slow breaths as the line continued to ring. She'd nearly decided to hang up and try again, when a cool, bitingly angry voice cut across the line.

"Who is this?"

She swiped her tongue across chapped lips, exhaled slowly. "Hey. It's me. I take it you've heard, then?"

There was a beat of silence, and then Klaus spoke, voice softer, but no less intense. "Caroline. I've been receiving conflicting reports."

Caroline was grateful for the way he jumped straight to business. She didn't have time for platitudes. She wondered how many of the officers who'd arrived on the scene had been his. If he'd known that she'd rented a room at the hotel. Questions for later. "Dead guy, your tattoo. Cops were enroute when I discovered him. What's going on?"

His next statement stunned her, and her fingers tightened convulsively on her phone.

"Stefan sold out," Klaus said tightly, each word bitten off. "It is unfortunate that he knew of you."

The burning of her lungs was what finally prompted her next breath, a ragged inhale that he had to have heard. There was a wealth of implication in that sentence. A wrenching validation of all the niggling thoughts that had plagued her late at night, the whirlwind of emotions that seeing him two years ago had stirred up. Stefan thought she was important enough that hurting her would hurt Klaus, and the barely contained rage in Klaus' voice confirmed it.

Caroline didn't know what to think. "Was I just bait then?"

"That hasn't been determined," Klaus replied. "Are you still in Paris?"

She pursed her lips before sighing. "For the moment."

"Stefan will take a few days to be dealt with," Klaus told her, a sudden rasp in his voice she didn't understand. "There are holes to plug."

Caroline shivered, knowing the body tonight was just the first of many. She remembered Stefan, with his affable smile. She wondered what his price had been, if had been worth what Klaus would do to him once he had him back in his hands. It was just a matter of time, Klaus would not let this go, would make an example if him.

"You'll need to disappear," Klaus continued as she remained silent. "I can provide you with a safe place, if you wish."

Her eyes slid closed. She'd have liked to say no, was tempted to keep this distance between them. Stepping back into Klaus' world, even on the periphery was a dangerous temptation. It's why she'd gone out of her way to avoid Europe. But she wasn't a child any longer, and five years had done much to wear away the shine of her youth. Klaus might still be too much for her to handle, she might find herself in a true game of cat and mouse, one in which she didn't know who'd win, but she'd take that risk.

"Alright," she said instead of the dozens of questions that lingered on the tip of her tongue. Dragging her teeth down her lip, she sighed. "Alright."

Klaus instructions were swift with a promise that more information would be pending. She stared at the blank screen if her phone for a previous moment after he cut the call, stomach trembling.

_I'll see you soon, Caroline._

She'd be walking into the belly of the beast.

And she couldn't wait.


End file.
